GALLERY QUARTET Seven artists pursue classic subjects and use traditional media, mainly to pleasurable effect METRO Edition

• Published in: Star Tribune
• Main Authors: Abbe, Mary, Staff Writer
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Minneapolis, Minn Star Tribune Media Company LLC 29.09.2000
• Subjects: Nugent, Bob
• ISSN: 0895-2825

This is a generous show of 21 paintings, 11 of them very large- scale. None of the work is representational, but the paintings all point obliquely to nature's primal, watery ooze. Spatters of deep blue undulate over gold like waves onto a beach; passages of coral, pink or gold glow behind dark paint skeins like light seeping into forest glades. Swampy paintings in chartreuse-y yellows appear to drip moss and threaten to sprout shaggy grasses. As [Bob Nugent]'s perspective shifts, we peer into a tangle of vines, gaze up from a watery depth, or glance down onto a sheen of bubbling pond scum that is just a slather of ripe paint. Throughout, Nugent seductively suggests nature's juicy, luscious fecundity without ever delineating a rock, a root or a reed - although they shimmer just on the edge of cognition. Kingman's paintings link the female form to high-shouldered vases and amphora. Sensuous torsos linger in the shadowy background of his images while vase shapes defined by dappled arcs of color - blue, terra cotta, gold - occupy the foreground. There's a sophisticated whiff of Futurism and Art Deco in Kingman's skillful interplay of foreground and background, muted and bright colors, fleshy curves and crisp lines. Artists from prehistoric times to Picasso have explored - and exploited - this equation of women with vessels; Kingman brings a fresh vitality to the age-old theme.